Full disclosure: I (wilycoldcuts) was a student at UCF and Valencia and now work at Google in the ITRP. Although I've moved to Mountain View, I'm still a member of FamiLAB and lurk /r/UCF and /r/Orlando on occasion.

These events are focused on Computer Science/Computer Engineering (or related fields) and Information Technology. That being said, you're still welcome to come say "Hi" and check out other positions at http://www.google.com/students (everyone has to apply online anyway). Alumni can check out http://www.google.com/jobs.

Hey fellow UCF alumni and I was just wondering how someone goes about getting a job driving the google maps cars. I love driving and feel like it would be a great way to spend a few years of relatively stress free existence.

The Google Streetview drivers are mostly contractors, although I don't know from where. There was an AMA here from a driver who said that they're not advertised specifically as "Google" positions, just generic drivers.

I'm not a Software Engineer so I can't answer with certainty, but I can say that I just searched through Google's openings for ".NET" and found at least one - we do develop a few Windows apps, after all.

I would say: there's no harm in applying, right? I'd also say: how married are you to .NET? ;)

Alumni are certainly invited, although these particular programs are geared towards New Grads (going to graduate within the next year, or one year out of college). That being said, I had six years of experience working in the defense/simulation industry when I applied for a New Grad position.

Thanks for sharing! This looks really neat and useful. Question, would this be applicable to a wide range of skill sets or is this focused mainly on engineering/computer science students? I am a PhD student at UCF in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Program and study teamwork in both applied and lab-based settings.

(Replying with the same answer that I posted for beachesatnormandy) These events are focused on Computer Science/Computer Engineering (or related fields) and Information Technology. That being said, you're still welcome to come say "Hi" and check out other positions at http://www.google.com/students (everyone has to apply online anyway). Alumni can check out http://www.google.com/jobs.

I went to UCF and now work for TI in the bay (live in Sunnyvale at the moment)!

To everyone else, Google sounds like an awesome company to work for (have quite a few co-workers who work with these guys often) and I would HIGHLY recommend looking into this. Also the bay is amazing!

Round $1500-$1900 for a one bedroom that is reasonably nice in the Sunnyvale/Mountain Veiw/Santa Clara area. Add to that an additional 500-600 in taxes plus 9.something percent sales tax and I would have to say it takes around 100k to live in the area comfortable while putting money in the bank. If you get a roommate that helps out allot (many young professionals go this route).

With all that being said the opportunity's in the bay are amazing! Worth every cent of extra CoL for the contacts you will make and keep for the rest of your life. Also SO MANY MOUNTAINS!!!

Ill give you that its not exactly 100k. I like saving in my 401k, HSA, Company stock, and just in the bank for a rainy day. I would say if you live in nominal Sunnyvale housing (w/o large subsidies from the company you work for) it would cost ~70k in total to be about break even. Not terrible considering normal tech salaries around the area. But not great. Just an FYI so people get a feel for the unassisted cost of the area.

I wouldn't say "no". I don't hold a Bachelor's degree (I attended UCF but didn't finish), so I'd say that if you're sufficiently motivated and have a strong skill set, you should definitely apply for any positions that you're interested in.

I can attest to that - I've been programming since I was 14 years old and although I only did one year of college, I managed to get interviewed by Google (few phone interviews about general Linux/POSIX, kernel internals, networking, distributed systems, etc) and even flew to Switzerland for some face-to-face interviews (hey, all expenses paid!).

Unfortunately, in the end, it didn't work out, probably because I was lacking Python experience at the time (this was ~2 years ago, I was mostly working with PHP/Perl/C on my regular job) and couldn't whip up good code on the whiteboard (although I could easily write anything in Python, had I been in a computer with and editor and Google lol), plus I struggled a little with the algorithmic "puzzles", so it was entirely my fault - had I done alright, I would probably get hired, even though I didn't have a college degree.

I'd like to attend this event, just to get a feel of how Google interviews are nowadays, even though I don't have any relationship with UCF (found about this on /r/orlando). Would that be possible?